


Stumbling Through the Night (But It's Paradise In Our Minds)

by Laetus_Fabricor, Radical Anus (Shokubenii)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternative Universe - Doctor who, Casual roasting, Comedy, Doctor Who!AU, Don't really have to know Doctor who canon to get this fic, Fic arcs are based on episodes, Follows Doctor who canon, M/M, Romantic Comedy, Time Travel, Until it Doesn't, join the wild ride, other characters will join as time goes on, this train veers off the track
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 15:24:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14499963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laetus_Fabricor/pseuds/Laetus_Fabricor, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shokubenii/pseuds/Radical%20Anus
Summary: When I was a little boy, there was a crack in my wall. And every night, I swore I could hear voices coming from it, but my aunt would just call me crazy. And after years, I had enough and I prayed. I said: “Oh Carbuncle, thank you for the kind dreams but please, oh please, send someone to help me. I am scared and no one else will help. So please-”And he did.It just so happened that the repair man that Carbuncle sent was a Mad Man in a Blue Boxaka: That Doctor Who!au I should have been stopped from making but wasn't





	Stumbling Through the Night (But It's Paradise In Our Minds)

_ When I was a little boy, there was a crack in my wall. _

He was a good man.   
  
How they ever believed such a gross misinterpretation of his actions was a mystery he'd never waste his time trying to solve.

_ And every night, I swore I could hear voices coming from it, but my aunt would just call me crazy. _

Instead he leapt through the wrinkles in time, alone aboard the TARDIS. The home left of his home, she was. The only constant in his life was the large blue booth in which he hid and will continue to hide for centuries to come.   
  
Alone.   
  
The way it was meant to be.

_ And after years, I had enough and I prayed. _

He only left its safe confines to indulge in activities hazardous to his own health. If only his sister could see him now... hanging from the entrance of the trusted TARDIS, legs flailing hundreds of feet above ground. The lights illuminating the dark city below like they were a sea stars in the sky. Had it been any other day, he might have stared wistfully at them for hours.

_ I said: “Oh Carbuncle, thank you for the kind dreams but please, oh please, send someone to help me. I am scared and no one else will help. So please-” _

Except on that particular day, he had just changed his face for the eleventh time, the Tardis was malfunctioning and - oh would you look at that - he was about to crash.

_ And he did _

-

It was the loud… whooshing that got his attention midprayer. The following crash was what got him away from his bed. He had been in the midst of begging for help from Carbuncle concerning the disturbing crack in the wall. It had been there for years, just above and to the left of his sleeping head.

Letting out loud whispers that invaded his ears.

Padding over to the window, he moved the curtain aside and Noctis peaked an eye through the window. There, in the back garden of his house, was a blue police box - the kind he had only really seen in those old grainy videos in school - lying on its back on top of what used to be the rickety shed.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he stepped away; softly, he whispered “Thank you, Carbuncle.” Turning on his heel, he grabbed a flashlight (the one he kept for reading when his aunt was being particularly watchful and he couldn’t keep the light on in his room) and tiptoed down out of his room and down creaking steps despite his aunt having gone out for the night.

Once he was outside, he cautiously stalked towards the box. The black haired child flinched as the doors suddenly burst open skyward and the torch fell from his hands. He quickly jumped back, narrowly avoiding a flying grappling hook. His blue eyes turned away from the tool and back to the box as he heard deep panting from the side.

After a few seconds, pale hands stuck out from within and grabbed onto the threshold and a soaked man’s head popped out. The light of the moon showed off his hair, intricate braids swaying with the movement of his body and the sides of his head shaved in some sort of mohawk. The man’s chest heaved as he looked about until his grey eyes focused on him.

“Could I have an apple?” The man asked out of nowhere “All I can think about. Apples. I love apples. Maybe I'm having a craving? That's new. Never had cravings before…” Without waiting for an answer, the man climbed out of the box completely and sat on the edge, displaying his ripped slacks and tattered shirt for the boy to see.

He leaned back and let out a long, low whistle “Whoa. Look at that…” he mumbled, just loud enough for the child to hear. Noctis took a tentative step forward and asked “Are you ok?”, tilting his head to the side and his face twisting in worry. He’d never really had someone… show up quite this abruptly, nor in this manor. Most people just used the front door (but he could understand why the man would want to avoid it, his aunt was very rude to the people who knocked upon their door).

The man turned back to him and gave a wide, toothy grin, as if trying to sooth him “Oh, I’m fine! Just had a bit of a fall all the way down to the library; it was a hell of a climb back up, I can tell you that!”

The boy raised an unamused eyebrow “Then why are you soaking wet?”

The man laughed, waving him off “I fell into the swimming pool.”

“You said you were in the library,”

“So was the swimming pool,” the man replied, with a placating smile. 

Rolling his eyes, Noctis stepped closer; the man obviously wasn’t any danger, if he was he would have done something by now. “Are you a policeman?” he inquired, looking up at him from the ground.

“Why? Did you call a policeman?” the man asked, seeming a little concerned, leaning forward. Ignoring him, the boy pressed on “Are you here about the crack in my wall?”

“What cra-” the man began before his body convulsed and he fell forward onto the dark earth. He held himself up on an arm and his knees while his free hand tried to cradle his heart. Noctis hurried over and placed a small hand on his back. 

“Are you alright?” Noctis asked as the man leaned back to sit on his ankles and dirty trainers.

“No, I'm fine. It's okay. This is all perfectly norm-” the man began once more before he was cut of by a guttural noise and a wisp of gold flecks escaped from his mouth and plumed together like smoke. Noctis took back his hand from the man’s back and stretched out.

The man took it as he asked “Who are you?”

The man grinned, pulling himself to his feet and dusting off soot, dry mud and grass off his hands and knees. “ I don't know yet. I'm still cooking. Does it scare you?”

“No, you just look a bit weird,” Noctis bluntly stated, rolling his eyes. Ruffling his hair, the man laughed “ No, no, no. The crack in your wall. Does it scare you?”

He instantly cowed, retreating into himself as his face flushed. Looking down at his feet, he whispered “Yes...”

“Well then, no time to lose! I'm the Doctor. Do everything I tell you, don't ask stupid questions, and don't wander off!” he introduced, before turning around and walking right into a tree. His body immediately fell backward and he held his forehead, grimacing.

“You ok?”

“Early days. Steering's a bit off.” The Doctor told him before he clambered to his feet again. With a lot of swaying and odd turns, the small boy was able to direct the Doctor into the house (there was a lot of curses from the Doctor involved, of course - “Don’t ever repeat that, it could get you arrested”).

-

The Doctor couldn’t help but grin at the little boy that hadn’t even been bothered by the crashed police box in his garden. He probably thought it was all a dream… Speaking of, why wasn’t the child even in bed? Looking down at the cracked watch on his wrist, he raised an eyebrow at the time.

Ten o’clock.

If he were the boy’s age (small, four foot tops, little skinny but might grow into his own, looked exhausted - did he  _ ever _ sleep? - most likely seven or eight… The same age as Selena when she died...) his mother would have yelled at him for ages for daring to be out of bed that late.

So why was the boy walking about and talking to random strangers in his back garden?

He let himself be pulled into the kitchen, as the child flicked the light on; it was almost blinding compared to that of the moon and the flashlight the boy had earlier (which was still in the garden somewhere); so he couldn’t help but squint as he was passed a red apple.

“If you're a doctor, why does your box say ‘Police’?” the boy questioned, watching as the man took a large bite out of the apple. Instead of the large burst of flavour he had come to expect after them everyday for 7 years, a revolting taste of age and dirt filled his mouth and seconds later he spat it all out

‘It was probably rotten.’ the Doctor thought before saying “Apple's rubbish. I hate apples,”

The eight year old stared at him from across the room blandly, stating “You said you loved them,” He watched quietly as the man shook his head vehemently from his seat behind the kitchen island. “No, no, no. I like yoghurt. Yoghurt's my favourite. Give me yoghurt.”

Noctis sighed. Pushing off the wall he rested against and went to the fridge. With cold air and light slapping him in the face, he pulled out a pot of yoghurt and tossed it to the raggedy man behind the counter. He caught it easily, ripping the multicolored seal off and pouring the food right into his mouth.

Noctis cringed as he spat it right out again like the apple. ‘I’m going to have to clean that up aren’t I?’

After much, fridge raiding, toast burning, plate throwing (that was the Doctor’s favourite. He tried to hold in his smile as the boy’s jaw dropped to the ground, watching the plate slice through air after he had tried the disgusting thing called ‘toast’. He hadn’t had this much fun in years! Not since before-) and frying, the Doctor had finally settled on…

Fish fingers and custard, of all things.

And while the Doctor had his Fish fingers and Custard (ew), Noctis pulled out the tub of ice cream his aunt hid in the back of the freezer and a spoon. Sticking the utensil into the snack, he couldn’t help but tell the doctor “You’re funny,”

“Oh really?” the Doctor asked, jabbing a fish finger into the massive bowl of custard he prepared. Every movement of his head made the beads in his hair (the ones Noctis only noticed when things finally settled down again) click together in a soothing noise that just felt… comforting as they dripped water from ‘the pool’ (yeah, he still didn’t believe that there was actually a pool, let alone in the library).

“Yeah. I’m Noctis. Noctis Caelum,” Noctis said, jutting out his hand like his aunt had shown him to do ever since he was young. The Doctor smiled, taking the small hand in his clean one and shook it.

“That’s a brilliant name,” the Doctor complimented, relishing in the old age of the child’s name that sounded so fluid. Reminding him of the old names from his home system of Eos. “Sounds like it came right out of a fantasy, a fairytale ready to be told.”

“Where are we Noctis? What country?” he Inquired

“England, how do you not know  _ that _ ?” the black haired boy questioned, rolling his eyes again. 

The Doctor quickly learned afterwards, that Noctis was alone. 

His parents were gone, his aunt had gone out, a small child left on his own in the dark of a house that was too  _ big _ , too  **_quiet_ ** . He was alone. It had to be agonizing. No child - no one - should be alone. It left a constant hole in you (and eventually you come to a realisation that you  _ deserve  _ to be alone).

Despite the ache in his chest, the Doctor tilted his head to the side - beads clicking and clacking against each other - and asked “And she left you all alone?”

“I’m not scared,” Noctis denied, biting down on another spoonful of ice cream.

The doctor snorted “Course, you're not. You're not scared of anything. Box falls out of the sky, man falls out of a box, man eats fish custard, and look at you, just sitting there. So you know what I think?”

“What?”

“Must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall.” he grinned. Jumping up from the seat, which dangerously teetered on its hind legs before righting itself, he ordered “Come along, Caelum! Let’s go look at that crack in your wall!”

The boy nodded reluctantly before pulling him up the stairs in the dark. Something was off. For once in his (incredibly long) life, the Doctor couldn’t look in the corner of his eye.

One problem at a time though. He had said he would help with the crack and that would come first. He couldn’t stay forever and make sure the child wasn’t lonely, but at the very least he could deal with that crack.

Stepping into the child’s messy room, the Doctor saw the three foot crack staring him in the face. “You've had some cowboys in here. Not actual cowboys, though that can happen,” he mumbled, walking towards it.

“Hey,” the eight year old mumbled, pulling on the hem of his ripped up dress shirt. Taking the offered apple from his small hands, the Doctor smiled softly at the smiley face etched into the bright red skin “I used to hate apples, so my mum put faces on them.”

“She sounds like a lovely woman, your mum, I’ll keep this for later,” The Doctor said, pocketing the fruit and turning back to the crack. With his face against the teal wall, he ran a finger across the crack. “This wall is solid and the crack doesn't go all the way through it. So you know what I’m wondering? Where's the draught coming from?” he asked.

Stepping back he pulled out his screwdriver and opened it with a flick of his wrist. With the high pitch noise emanating, he pointed it at the wall as Noctis came closer towards him and sat on his bed. When the tool was done with its scan, he flicked it up and stared at it. “Huh. Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey. You know what this crack is?”

“I bet you’re going to tell me?” Noctis grumbled, leaning back on his arms

The Doctor snorted “It’s a crack.”

“Well, no duh,”

“But here’s the thing, if you knocked this wall down, the crack would stay put, because the crack isn't in the wall.” 

“Where is it then?” Noctis asked, sitting up straight suddenly.

“Everywhere. In everything. It's a split in the skin of the world. Two parts of space and time that should never have touched, pressed together right here in the wall of your bedroom.”

“Sometimes… I can hear things… I tried to tell my aunt but she just thought I was making it up,” Noctis admitted. The man scoffed “That’s freaking adults. Always so ready to dismiss what they don’t understand.”

“You’re an adult, Doctor.”

“I’m the best kind!” He grinned, speaking over the soft growling that drifted in through the crack. Grabbing the cup of water on the bedside table, he threw out the water (purposely ignoring Noctis as he muttered “Aunty won’t be happy about that…”) and pressed it against the crack.

Putting his ear against the glass, he hushed Noctis and listened.

Then a gravelly, almost mechanical voice announced “Prisoner Zero has escaped!”

“Who’s done what?”

“Prisoner Zero has escaped.” Noctis reiterated for him.

“Yeah, I got that,” the Doctor drawled

“That's what I heard. What does it mean?”

“It means that on the other side of this wall, there's a prison and they've lost a prisoner. And you know what that means?  _ You _ need a better wall.” He told the boy, who hopped of the bed and onto his feet “The only way to close the breach is to open it all the way. The forces will invert and it'll snap itself shut. Or-”

“Or  _ what _ ?” Noctis prodded, walking closer to stand beside him.

“You know when grown-ups tell you everything's going to be fine and you think they're probably lying to make you feel better?”

“All the time.” Noctis grumbled

“Everything is going to be fine!” The Doctor laughed hesitantly, reaching out his hand to the boy who quickly took it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! 
> 
> This is a Doctor Who AU because, let's face it, Nyx is the 11th Doctor at heart. So yeah, most plot stays the same.  
> Until it doesn't and the train veers off the track so far that the track is in one city and the train is in another
> 
> But yeah! XD Enjoy ^-^)b


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